After accidentally burning down his house in Freeland, Pennsylvania, Glenn Martin takes his family — wife Jackie, hormone-addled 13-year-old Conor, power suit-wearing 11-year-old Courtney, Courtney's overachieving assistant Wendy, and Canine — on a cross-country road trip to strengthen the family bond together
Cast and characters
Kevin Nealon as Dr. Glenn Martin, an optimistic travelling dentist who dreams of becoming closer with his family. He is a Doctor of Dental Surgery.
Catherine O'Hara as Jackie Martin, Glenn's wife and the mother of Conor and Courtney. She is often stressed with the problems involved in raising a family in an RV.
Peter Oldring as Conor Martin, the thirteen-year-old son of the Martins. He is going through puberty and is hormonal. He also tends to be the subject of pratfalls due to his clumsiness. He also has a crush on Wendy, but always gets rejected.
Jackie Clarke as Courtney Martin, the eleven-year-old daughter of the Martins, who acts like an adult business woman. She is competitive, outspoken and boastful.
Judy Greer as Wendy Park is Courtney's assistant and employee. She was born in North Korea. Her age is unclear; Glenn has referred to her as a tweenager, but she later claims to be thirteen years old.
Canine, the Martins' dog who has an oversized anus.
Development
Former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, who put up his own money to produce the pilot episode, pitched it to Nick at Nite rather than ABC. Eisner was quoted as saying the decision was based on Nick at Nite's record of nurturing shows. The show has a 1970s sensibility including the design of the Winnebago which is driven across the country. It was reportedly inspired by the 1971 ABC made-for-TV movieIn Search of America, which starred Jeff Bridges as a college dropout who drove a Winnebago across the country with his family.
Laugh track
Unusual for a modern animated sitcom, the show featured a laugh track in early episodes intended to mimic 1970s sitcoms. This was later removed at the request of the series' creators, with Eric Fogel citing the show having "too much internal thinking".
Glenn Martin, DDS received mixed to negative reviews from critics, garnering a 48/100 from Metacritic based on 9 reviews after the series premiere. Part of the criticism was leveled at the overuse of laugh tracks. Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote: "Glenn Martin, DDS is pretty much laugh-free ". The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Ignore the stilted jokes the limp characterization. Just understand this: Martin is an animated show with a laugh track. Imagination comes in handy, though, in trying to figure out how someone approved this concept, labored on this and then let it free into the world." Variety wrote: "Despite the contributions of Eric Fogel, Glenn Martin isn't as bad as visiting the dentist, but isn't much better than sitting in the waiting room. Positioned as a spoof of classic sitcoms, Glenn Martin gets off to a bad start by incorporating a laugh track, which only highlights some of the deficiencies in the writing." The Los Angeles Times wrote: "Still, except for the dog's hindquarters, I like the look of it. Press materials indicate that the Martins will be visiting Las Vegas, Yellowstone, the Mall of America and Hollywood in future adventures, and as a fan of the form, I'm interested to see what the animators make of them." New YorkDaily News writer David Hinkley gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "satire with biting wit". The Boston Globe called it "cute, giggle-worthy, and only a smidgen dangerous". The Detroit News wrote that the show is "full of enough end-of-the week laughs to help you giggle yourself into the weekend". Website Shakefire.com rated the show an "A-".
Controversy
In November 2009, Maura Buete, a Florida mother and anti-vax advocate, was outraged that the series contained sexual references despite airing in an 8 p.m. weekday slot, immediately following the children's show SpongeBob SquarePants. In response to several complaints from parents, Nickelodeon moved the show to Friday nights at 10:30 p.m.
